Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 44 from our hardbacked hymnal number 44,
And Can It Be. Let's all stand together in hymn
number 44. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his
pain? for me who him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be? That Thou, my God, shouldst die
for me. Amazing love, how can it be That
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? He left His Father's throne above
So free, so infinite His grace Emptied Himself of all but love
and bled for His own helpless race. Amazing love, how can it
be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, How can it be that
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? No condemnation now I dread,
I am my Lord's and He is mine. Alive in Him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine. Amazing love, how can it be that
Thou, my God, Please be seated. Let me get you to open your hymnals
back to that hymn number 44. It's a good opportunity for us
to learn an important lesson. Be reminded a little bit of Levin. Levin's the whole lump. If in
your hymnal the word Adam in the second stanza, third line
down, is not scratched out, go ahead and do that. Just take
a pencil or pen, scratch it out. and change Adam to his own. Christ did not die for Adam's
race. He died for his own race. and his own helpless race. That's a big difference, isn't
it? A big difference. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles together
to Proverbs chapter 9 for our call to worship. Proverbs chapter
9. Todd was supposed to go home
today. He called me earlier and I missed his call. Has anybody
heard for sure that he's gone home? I think he did. He sounded a lot better yesterday
when I talked to him. Also, I got a text from Jennifer
Uranik saying that Britton's mother went in the hospital this
afternoon with a stroke. So Britton is there with her. Proverbs chapter 9, we'll begin
reading at verse 1 and read down to verse 6. Wisdom. God has made him to be for us
wisdom. This is a personification of
Christ. Wisdom. Hath builded her house,
she hath hewn out her seven pillars. There's the church. She hath
killed her beast, she hath mingled her wine, She hath also furnished
her table. She hath sent forth her maidens.
She crieth upon the high places of the city, who so is simple,
single-minded. Let him turn in hither. As for
him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, come, eat of
my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled, forsake
the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding."
Let's pray together. Our glorious and loving Heavenly
Father, how thankful we are that you were pleased to send your
dear Son the fullness of the Godhead bodily, all the wisdom
of God. Reveal to us your glory. And
we ask now that you would send your Holy Spirit in power. that
you would give us understanding, that you would cause us, Lord,
to be simple and that we would be single-minded, looking to
Christ alone for all our righteousness, all our justification, all our
hope, and all our life. We pray, Lord, for Britton and
for his mom and ask, Lord, that you would just provide grace
and help in their time of need. Thank you for our brother Todd,
for the hand of strength that you are putting upon him, and
we ask that you would give him full recovery. We ask it in Christ's
name, amen. Number 334, 334, and let's all stand together
again. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day
or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word, I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I Thy true
Son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always. Thou and Thou only, first in
my heart, My King of heaven, my treasure Thou art. High King of heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall. Still be my vision, O ruler Please be seated. Would you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 42, please? Isaiah 42. I want to introduce this message
by making a statement that some might interpret as being provocative,
and I don't mean to be provocative. I'm not intending to split hairs,
but just like in that hymn that we just sang, a little bit of
leaven leavens the whole lump. I've titled this message, our
sovereign God. And I want to introduce it by
saying that I do not believe in the sovereignty of God. I'm not trusting the salvation
of my soul in a doctrine. I believe in a God who is absolutely
sovereign. What a difference. What a difference. You can adhere to the doctrine
of total depravity and never be made a sinner. That's a work
of grace in the heart, and God reveals to you that you are a
sinner. You can adhere to the doctrine
of limited atonement and never experience fellowship with Christ,
having taken away your sin once and for all. Our faith is not in a doctrine. Our faith is in a person. And
He has revealed Himself all throughout His Word. So gloriously here
in Isaiah chapter 42, we looked at the first four verses Sunday
where God the Father is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 5, God the Father reveals
Himself. Then in verses 6 and following
God the Father is speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ The revelation
that he makes of himself He's the one he's the one that we
trust Look at look at verse 5 thus saith God the Lord He he that created the heavens. Isaiah chapter 42 verse 5, and
stretcheth them out He that spread forth the earth and all that
cometh out of it. He that giveth breath unto the
people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. God Almighty is telling us that
He is the creator and sustainer of all of life. Physical life,
spiritual life, everything is in His sovereign hand. What comfort,
what hope, what peace the Lord gives to our hearts as he enables
us to trust him. Now doctrine is beneficial. Doctrine, the word doctrine means
teaching. But it's beneficial only to the
extent that it teaches us about Christ, leads us to him. You remember what the Lord said
about the Pharisees who were very concerned about proper doctrine
and about the scriptures. He said, you search the scriptures.
You've spent all your life and all your energy fine tuning your
understanding of the scriptures. But these are they which testify
of me. Oh, how I hope that the Lord
will Will not allow us to fall short of knowing it. Come unto
me. Learn of me. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow after me. You can have doctrine and not
have Christ. If you have Christ, you're gonna
have right doctrine. You're gonna have right doctrine. But so many have fallen short
of knowing Christ. Doctrine, the doctrine of God's
sovereignty will cause you to resign yourself to your circumstances. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ will cause you to rejoice in your circumstances. That's
a big difference. Doctrine leads to fatalism. What will be, will be. It'll
all work out. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ leads to hope. Hope. Joy. Doctrine will increase
your knowledge about God. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ will reveal to you who God is. Doctrine will oftentimes lead
to a love of learning. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ will teach you how to love. The big difference. The Lord's
revealing himself, behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him,
and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. God the Father
is pointing us to Christ, telling us about who he is and what he's
done. He shall not cry. He shall not
lift up. He shall not cause his voice
to be heard in the street. He doesn't have to go around
using manipulation and pleading with men. No. He's omnipotent. He's sovereign. He's able to save. And He has
saved. And He will save every one of
His people. A bruised reed shall He not break. Now we have to know Christ to
get any comfort from this. Doctrine will give you an advantage
in talking to men. Knowing Christ will enable you
to talk to God. Big difference. Doctrine can be taught by men. Doctrine is logical. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ must be revealed. We cannot know him unless he
reveals himself in us and to us. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ is experiential. He is. Thus saith the Lord. Verse five. Thus saith God. He is our God. Oh, Lord, reveal
yourself to me, reveal Christ to me. I don't want to be. I don't want my faith to be cold,
calculated, mechanical. I want it to be warm and alive. I need you to give me a new heart. Verse 6, the father begins to
speak to Christ. Now I want to get in on that
conversation, don't you? I want to hear what God the Father
has to say to the Lord Jesus Christ, because in hearing his
voice, we'll know him. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow after me. And so God says to the Lord Jesus
Christ, I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness. He's not talking about our calling,
he's talking about the call of Christ. He's still talking about
mine elect, whom I have chosen, the one that I put my spirit
upon. And now the father's saying, I called you in righteousness. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ is more than just his moral perfection. His perfect obedience to the
Lord Jesus Christ. I mean to the father his righteousness
goes to Satisfying all the law The law could not fully be satisfied
just by our Lord's moral obedience in his life What was the very
first law that God gave in the day in which you sin you shall
surely die and Sin required death. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
die in order to establish all righteousness. That law had to be fulfilled
also. Righteousness could not be established without the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Philippians chapter
3 tells us. Let's go there for just a moment.
We looked at this verse Sunday. Verse six in Philippians chapter
two, I'm sorry, who being in the form of God thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. Don't you get offended? When your religious friends and
family members start trying to impress you with all the things
that they're doing for God. Believers don't talk like that.
We don't go around trying to impress men with our, do we,
do we want to serve the Lord? Yes. Is our service in any way,
um, satisfactory? No, but his was his was. The form of a servant made in
the likeness of men and being found in the fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. So the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ goes beyond his moral perfection in satisfying
the demands of the Ten Commandments. He did that. He's the end of
the law for righteousness, but his death was part of that as
well. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I, the Lord have called thee
in righteousness. Go back with me to verse six.
The Lord Jesus Christ came forth voluntarily, but he did not come
forth uncalled. God the Father called him, no
man taketh this honor upon himself, Hebrews chapter five. Turn with
me to that passage, I want you to see this. Hebrews chapter
five. The Lord's talking about the
function of the priest, Aaron in particular, that Aaron didn't
choose this, he had to be called to this role. in order to intercede
for Israel, God had to call him. And in Hebrews chapter five at
verse four, and no man take it this honor unto himself, but
he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified,
not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto
him, thou art my son, today I have begotten thee. The Lord Jesus
Christ came voluntarily. He entered into a covenant with
the father in eternity past, but he was called. He was called. And that's why the scripture
says, and I, in Psalm chapter 40 low, I come in the volume
of the book. It is written of me. I delight
to do thy will. Oh God. The Lord Jesus Christ
responded to the call of his father and an obedience did everything
the father called him to do. And that's what God requires
for our salvation, for Christ to stand in our stead as our
righteousness before God. I, the Lord, have called thee Righteousness God the Father
speaking to Christ. I've called thee Did the Lord
respond Obediently to that call. Yes Yes Did he fulfill everything
in the call of the father on behalf of his people? Yes I've
called thee In righteousness I've called thee, and will hold
thy hand. God the Father held the hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ through all the work of redemption. Everything
he did, he said, the words that I speak are not my words, they're
the Father's words. The work that I do is the work
that the Father gave me to do. Turn with me to Psalm 89. Verse 18 for the Lord is our
defense and the Holy one of Israel is our king. Now we're talking
about, this is a, this is a revelation of Christ. It's a revelation
of our God and his sovereign grace. You ever heard someone
say that, uh, they came to the doctrines of grace. We don't
come to the doctrines of grace. We come to Christ. He's revealed
in those precious doctrines, but we're not coming to a doctrine. For the Lord is our defense,
the Holy One of Israel, He is our King. Then thou spakest,
In vision to thy holy one, God, the father speaking in vision
to Christ and say, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. Here's Christ behold my servant,
mine elect, my chosen one. I have found David my servant,
with my holy oil have I anointed him. He was anointed with the
oil of gladness above his fellows. He came in the full anointing
of the Holy Spirit as the Christ to accomplish the purpose for
which God sent him, the salvation of his people. And he could do
nothing but that. David, you know, is a picture
of Christ. This isn't speaking of David,
this is speaking of Christ. Look at verse 21. With whom my
hands shall be established, my arm also shall strengthen him. So here we have God the Father
speaking audibly from heaven at the baptism of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. God the Holy Spirit coming down
in the form of a dove, anointing him, God, the son, the full triune
God, how could he fail? He's not discouraged. Verse 22, the enemy shall not
exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will
beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate
him. But my faithfulness and my mercy
shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn
be exalted in my name. Shall his horn be exalted. Now,
you know, the horn in the scripture is a picture of power. That's
the, that's the end of the animal. You don't want to be around if
you, and, and, and his horn. horn of His powers, sovereign
powers, sovereign grace, His sovereign glory. Turn back with
me to our text. The Father held the hand of Christ
in the work that He came to accomplish. And now this is the covenant
promise that the Father is speaking to Christ and he says in verse
6, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold
thy hand and will keep thee. I'm not only going to sustain
you in your work of redemption, but I'm going to keep the work
that you've accomplished for all eternity. I'm going to keep
thee. He made his work eternally prosperous. I will divide him a portion with
the great." Isn't that what it says in Isaiah 53? The father
shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. I will hold thy hand and I will
keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people." The objective
of the call that the Father put upon Christ and the reason why
He anointed Him is to make Him to be the fulfillment of the
covenant. A covenant is a promise, it's
a treaty, it's an alliance, it's an agreement. And here's what
God said, I've made you to be a covenant of the people. Everything necessary for their
salvation. All the promises of God, the
scripture says, are yea and amen in Christ. Now that just means
that all the promises of God are yes in Christ and fulfilled
in Christ. God don't look anywhere else
other than to your son for my acceptance before you. Don't
look at me. Don't look at my service. Don't
look at my prayers. Don't look at my promises. Don't
look at anything that I have ever done. Look to Christ alone
for my acceptance. I'm talking, I'm praying to the
Father that that's what He'll do. He's our surety. Everything that God Almighty
requires He looks to Christ for. And that's what faith does. Faith
is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for all my acceptance
before God. He acts in our stead to provide
everything that we need. And that's what the Father says,
I've called you, I called you in righteousness. Righteousness
even unto death the death of the cross and I will hold thy
hand and I will keep you I'll provide for you You're going
to be successful you're not going to be discouraged and And and
you're not gonna fail He's already made that clear in verse 4 hasn't
he? Here's the father speaking to Christ and he says he says
in verse in verse 6 I will give thee for a covenant. And the only way that we're gonna
receive Christ is if God gives him to us. You're gonna have to give him.
You're not gonna persuade God, you're not gonna offer God something
that he's gonna reward you for. It's gonna have to be a free
gift. And when the Lord teaches us
that, Then we quit trying to bargain with God, don't we? We
quit trying to bring our knowledge or our understanding or our good
works or our good intentions or anything to Him. And we become mercy beggars. Lord, you're going to have to
give me Christ if I'm going to be saved. I can learn knowledge. I can learn doctrine. But if
I'm going to know Christ, you're going to have to give him to
me. You're going to have to make him to be my covenant. I'm completely
dependent upon you for everything. You remember, you remember the
story of the man that had a withered hand? A stretched forth high
hand? I've heard people say, you know,
it's not that God would not require you to do something that you
can't do. Everything God requires of us
we can't do. Why would God say believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ unless you're able to believe? Or I can't believe, I can't see,
I can't come. You're gonna have to do everything. You have to cause me to come
unto thee. And here's the glorious hope we have, that God's command
to come is our warrant for coming. So when he said to that man,
stretch forth thy hand, what's he gonna say? Well, I can't,
it's crippled. Hey, stretch it forth. Peter said Peter and John at
the gate called beautiful said to that blind man silver and
gold have we none but such as we have we give unto thee we
give unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ stand and walk and
what happened he stood and he leaped never walked in his life
and now he's leaping I will give you as a covenant
of the people, the promise of God. What did David say? Although
my house be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things, ordered in all things, everything
necessary to ratify this covenant, everything necessary to fulfill
the requirements of this covenant are ordered and sure. David said this is all my salvation
all my desire though. We make it not to grow I Look
at myself, and I don't see do you see growth in grace in yourself? You don't do you When you look
at yourself you just think you know I I'm just getting worse
I And that's what David was saying,
although he'd make it not to grow. Don't look for growth in
grace in yourself. Don't look for evidence of salvation
in yourself. You'll either be horribly discouraged
or you'll be deceived. One or the other. You'll either
be discouraged or deceived. You'll lie to yourself in thinking,
well, you know, there's some good stuff going on there. Or
if you're an honest person, you'll look at your life and you'll
think, oh Lord, oh wretched man that I am. I
can't get out of my own way. Can't get out of my own way.
You have that problem? I will give him as a covenant
of the people. He's the promise of God. Everything God requires of you
and me he looks to Christ for Are you looking where God's looking? That's why that's why the Lord
lets us in on this conversation that he's having with his son
God the Father speaking to Christ and he's letting us get in on
this so we can know where where he is and For verse six, the last part
of verse six, and now we get down to the effects of the call
of Christ upon his people. Here's the effects that the call
of Christ has on the people of God. For a light of the Gentiles. You have some light, don't you?
You do. I hope you do. There was a time
when you could not see that you were nothing but sin. And now
that's crystal clear to you, isn't it? There was a time when
you could not see that the Lord Jesus Christ was all your righteousness
before God. And now that's the only hope
you've got. At the time, you couldn't believe
the gospel. You had no interest in the gospel. And now it's your
life. It's your life. It's everything
to you. This is the effects of the anointing
of the Lord Jesus. I'm going to make you a light
to the Gentiles. There was a time when you read
the Bible and you thought it was nothing more than a book
of rules and regulations and doctrine and theology and history. And you prided yourself in the
little bit of knowledge you had and giving you an advantage over
someone else? And now you know, in the volume
of the book it is written of me. If they speak not according
to the law and the testimony, it is because there is no light
in them. And when the light of the gospel
gets turned on, when God turns it on and reveals The gospel
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you then you see
this book's all about him. It's all about him. From beginning to end it's all
about him. In the beginning God that's Christ. Even so Lord Jesus
come. That's Christ. From Genesis 1
1 to the end of the book of Revelation it's all about him isn't it. I've come to bring a light to
the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes. I was talking to somebody recently
and they were feeling intimidated because they could not answer
the interrogation of unbelievers when it comes to the gospel.
And I said, you know, you've had that problem. You've had
unbelievers want to interrogate you over what you believe and
you didn't feel like you gave an adequate answer. And I reminded
them of what that blind man, you remember they brought him
before, he'd been blind all his life. they brought him before
the Pharisees and the Pharisees started interrogating him who
is this that healed you and and Remember what he said listen,
you know, I don't know. I don't know All I know is that
once I was blind and now I see There was a time when I couldn't
see Christ there's a time and I couldn't see myself There's
time and I didn't know how it is that God puts away my sin,
but now I know I Can I give you chapter and verse? Not always.
Can I compete with you theologically and debate these things with
you? No. But I can tell you this, Christ gave me light. He is my
light. I know the truth. That's what
he said. When he makes him a covenant
for the people, he'll be a light to the Gentiles and he'll open
the blind eyes. Open the blind eyes to bring
out the prisoners from the prison. You were held captive. Couldn't
see, couldn't believe, couldn't come, didn't have an interest
in the gospel. Don't you love the story of Samson going into
the Philistine city and taking those gates and putting them
on his shoulder and carrying them out? And what did the Lord
say to to Peter when he asked Peter,
whom do men say that I am? And Peter said, well, some say
that you're John the Baptist, come back to life. Some Elijah,
one of the prophets. And then the Lord said, okay,
that's their theological discussions and debates. Who do you say that
I am? What Peter say, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. We know and are sure of
that. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this unto you. You could be out there having
these discussions with those folks out there. My father, which
is in heaven, has revealed to you who I am. And upon this rock,
what rock? The confession you just made.
That I'm the Christ, the anointed one, the son of the living God.
I'm going to build my church. I'm going to build my church
upon that foundation. I am the foundation stone and
the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against it. There's the gospel going out.
Into the world there Samson taking away those as there's the strong
man. There's the Lord Jesus Christ
Why because that's where all his people are They're in the
pit of hell Until the Lord sets the prisoner free. That's where
they are. They're under the dominion of
Satan They're dead. They're blind. They're unable
to believe And here's what he says he's gonna do I'm going to bring out the prisoners
from the prison. Say, well, I've never been in
prison. Some folks might think that. I've never been in prison.
I'm free. I've always been free. A person that would talk like
that is in prison and they don't know it. They're in prison, they don't
know it. Was there a time when you weren't free? You were blinded by the God of
this world? Look at the last part of verse
seven. And them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Out of the prison house. Now I'm free. There was a time
when I was under the law. Was under the law. And what Paul
say in Galatians, oh foolish, oh foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you? Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Don't measure your salvation
by your obedience. Look to Christ. Verse eight. Well, before we go to verse eight,
let me just take us to Isaiah 35, if you will. Turn back with
me a couple pages. We're talking about seeing and
feeling the gracious effects of the gospel in our hearts. Isaiah chapter 35, look at verse
3. Strengthen ye the weak hands
and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance. And he did. He trampled out the
winepress of the fury of his wrath. He came with vengeance,
even God with a recompense. He paid the debt for our sins.
He will come and save you. And that's what he came to do,
to save his people. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lay man leap as
a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness
shall waters break out and streams in the desert. See, doctrine
can't do this for you. It can't. We don't believe in unconditional
election. We believe in a God who has elected
a people without any condition placed on them. Verse seven, and the parched
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes, and a
highway shall be there. and a way, and it should be called
the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring men, though fools,
shall not err therein." Lord, that's me. I'm a wayfaring man. Left to myself, I'm nothing but
a fool. What's the promise that I have? Christ has saved me. And He's not going to let me...
He's not going to let me get away from Him. They shall not
err. They shall not err. They will persevere. Why? Because
He's going to keep them from falling. You see, we don't believe
in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. We believe that
doctrine's true. but we believe in a God who causes
us to persevere. Verse eight. Isaiah 42, verse eight. I am
the Lord. That is my name. And you know, every time L-O-R-D
is in all caps, it's Jehovah. It's Yahweh. It's the name that
God gave Moses at the burning bush. When Moses said, whom shall
I say sent me? And what did the Lord say? Tell
them I am hath sent thee. I am. I am that I am. I'm the creator and sustainer
of all of life. I'm the savior of sinners. I'm
not like you. I'm not contingent on anything. I'm not dependent upon anything. I am. I save in the manner in
which I save. I'll have mercy upon whom I will
have mercy and whom I will harden. I'm sovereign. I'm omnipotent. Oh, Lord. And if you see that
just as a doctrine, then you'll just become fatalistic. Oh, well,
you know, it'll just, it'll just all work out. But if you see
that as a description of the God that you serve, the God that
you worship, then you'll fall, you'll fall on your face before
him and worship him. Worship him. I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory will I not give
to another. Oh, I'm so thankful. He doesn't
share his glory. The gospel of God's free grace
in the accomplished work and glorious person of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only message for sinners that gives to God all
the glory. All the glory. I'll not share
my glory with another. I'm not going to give you anything
to glory in. I'm going to get all the glory.
I'm going to get the glory for having chosen you. I'm going to get the glory for
having redeemed you. I'm going to get the glory for
having regenerated you. I'm going to get the glory for
keeping you. I'm going to get the glory for
sanctifying you. I'm going to get the glory for
bringing you safely home and glorifying you. I'm going to
do it all. And I'm not going to let you
participate in it. I am the Lord. That is my name. And I will not share my glory
with another. I'm going to get all the glory,
neither my praise, to graven images. And that's what every
religious opinion of the world is. It's a graven image. It's
an idol. And every single one of us came
into this world as an idolater. And the Lord has to deliver us
from idolatry and cause us to worship Him. And the means by
which He does that is the revelation that He's made of Himself in
His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the Word of God. His own will begat he us with
the word of truth in the volume of the book. It is written to
me It's This is it isn't it this is who
he is And God's people say amen, that's
my God I Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very, very thankful for the revelation that you have graciously made
of yourself and your dear son. We pray that your Holy Spirit
would give to us faith to Not believe in a doctrine,
but believe in Christ. Believe in you, Father. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 225, let's stand together. StSq3 3.30 (-0.99)" I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, Lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place,
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give. The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy day be bright. I looked to Jesus, and I found
in Him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. Thank you.